News 21 Apr 2017

West apologises over ARRC corruption accusations

Aussie admits mistake following Thailand disqualification.

Source: Supplied.

Queensland’s Anthony West has apologised after making the explosive claim that the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) is corrupt, following his disqualification last weekend in Thailand.

West, 35, went 3-1 in the pair of races at Chang International Circuit, but was disqualified under controversial circumstances when his Akeno Speed Racing team refused to meet post-race scrutineering requirements.

Both West and the ARRC organisers released statements following the event, however the Aussie has now back-tracked on his corruption claims and has publicly apologised to those he accused amid the confusion. He plans to continue competing in the series.

“Firstly I’d like to thank everyone for their support after the last round of the ARRC championships in Thailand, where unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my personal control I was excluded from the results,” West said this week. “It’s been overwhelming to see so much support for me and makes me proud to be a racer.

“As you could imagine when I learnt of my disqualification I was extremely disappointed to say the least, as I’d just won one of the most exciting races seen in the series in years. I would like to apologise to the ARRC and the organisers for calling it a corrupt championship. As a man I don’t ever like to accuse anyone of anything and I vented my frustration in the heat of the moment, which as a professional racer I know I should know better not to.

“As it’s been brought to my attention that our team did not remove cam-shafts and I was misinformed. I would also like to apologise to Thai Yamaha, stating that they played a part in my disqualification, which has now been shown to me was not the case. Whenever you have competition you will have conflict, I’d like the team and the ARRC to sit down and resolve their differences.

“I’m here to race bikes and win and that’s all I want to focus on. I realise I am a role model to a lot of young fans out there and I do not want to send them the wrong message. I like to help out the kids as much as possible and being a good role model is another way to do this. I am sure that we can all learn from this for the future and move forward and improve on this so there is no repeats. Thanks again for all your support and see you at the next round.”

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